“Ridiculous and marginal” says Hamas…

The Third Annual Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival is a tricky event to pull off. Condemned by Hamas, and hemmed in by Israeli security restrictions, the Festival continues to bring culture to Ramallah – with a selection of 14 international companies this year.

This, itself, is seen as a political act among some Palestinians (of the Fatah ilk): we, too, can showcase international art, and cultural freedom. The Islamists don’t agree. “The wives of the martyrs would not be happy with these performances if they don’t address their suffering,” says Ayman Daragmeh, a Hamas legislator from the West Bank.

But the audiences aren’t Islamists. Says Alaa Abu Saah, a painter from the West Bank city of Tulkarem, “Such a program gives me comfort and allows me to be free. Our young people need freedom of movement and freedom of thinking.”

Read about the festival here, at the Christian Science Monitor website.

Read more about the line-up here, at the Jerusalem Post.

• 5 05 2008 - 10:33